There has long been a need to create safe and professional online environments that are sheltered from the open and unmanaged environment of the Internet. At home and at work, parents and employers need to shield users, particularly children, from threats, profanity, cyberbullying, sexual harassment, inappropriate content, and disturbing interactions.
Traditional content control applications may recognize and filter the most blatant examples of pornography, hate speech, threats, or other offensive content. However, bullying, harassment, threats, and other disturbing interactions may involve sarcasm or innuendo that is beyond the capabilities of content analysis and filtering systems to detect and control. In other instances, users may feel threatened by innocuous online interactions that involve someone who has acted belligerently at other times or in other contexts. Even interactions with friends, family members, or other loved ones may be stress-inducing at times, particularly for adolescents. Accordingly, the instant disclosure identifies and addresses a need for additional and improved systems and methods for analyzing emotional responses to online interactions.